Journal

After having to put it off last year, we were finally was able to get my the new car (I think everyone should buy a new car once, if they can afford it) for Shannon. We searched for a while and going from "ok I think we can do it" to lets go in for a test drive was less then a week. The time form test drive to buy was about 23 hours. I'm pretty sure Shannon wanted to make sure I couldn't change my mind :-D

Pork Chops (Lucky George)

This past week I went out to Vaudeville Mews to see P.O.S. It has been a while since I've gone out to see a concert on my own, and this was one that accidentally made me do so. While the performance was strange as he had a bit (or a lot) of vertigo, it felt very connected and I'm glad I went. I did spend the first part after the doors opened, reading a bit. I suppose I could've attempted to socialize, but I'm not very good at starting that. I'm glad I went, even alone, and enjoyed it.

Friday, I took the day off again. I was tasked for finding a replacement ceiling fan. After searching and research, I found one that I thought would work. Then ordered it to pickup in a Lowes store.

Having other errands to run, I got ready to leave the house, then headed off to JC Penny's to find some work clothes (and spend the gift card from my mom-in-law). I found a couple of deals, a couple of acceptable items, one super good deal (91% off). Ended up getting 7 items for just under $100. I headed out to the parking lot to check in on the pickup at the store item at Lowes. I called, after bouncing around a bit, finally talked to someone, who said they'd call me back.

I headed to Whole Foods to pick up a couple of things. The idea for me, was Pennys > Lowes > Whole Foods > home. So as lowes was out of the loop, I made my way home. After a bit of time, I finally tweeted about my frustration and after a bit of responsive twitter lowes, I finally got a call back. Apparently the items shipped to the store had not survived the trip and were not removed form stock. Which is fair enough, but still a frustrating experience. Then I got offered a ceiling fan from a friend (thanks Keith!), and this sounds like the new plan. I still thought about the fan, which would probably be more effective in the living room. So the plan changed. Then I remembered that I'd have to run electricity and create a new light socket, which to me sounds expensive, so I'll get quotes on that. So I cancelled my fan in store pickup. I often complain about inventory management. I understand it's hard to get accurate information, but if you are going to display that, it's the responsibility of everyone to get the data as correct as possible.

Taco Salad

The ever adaptable taco salad. A little tweak here, a little twist there. This time we had farm fresh radishes and greens to put on the salad. Good as always.

Spring Garlic Risotto with Chicken

I baked chicken thighs in a pan, with salt. I paid attention to make sure they didn't go over. I then slowly made risotto. I know Shannon loves her some risotto, so I made extra. Nice spring garlic taste, with savory notes. Good Stuffs.

While this was good, it felt incomplete. I suppose if I had the time to let it soak it may have improved the texture over all, but maybe adding a can of tomato sauce? I don't know it was missing something. It was super simple to put together though.

I am out of local beef. Luckily for me, DTFM starts in 6 days. I did order some meats from the Iowa Food Coop, but my chosen provider was out of beef. That being said, I ran out to whole foods to get some grass fed beef and went from there. Shannon Skipped the onions, but I think they added a nice flavor overall.

I took the time to cook down the onions. I added a bit of Salame Rosa to the mix. I made Shannon's first, without onions, then spent the time to get the onions to the nice flavor profile they expect. The pieces worked together very well.

I put the sauce / brining mixture together, while getting my HVAC it's regular service. I apparently had forgotten to get green onions, so just skipped that step, for the most part I think it came together pretty well. At the time of cooking I guess 350F or 375F, after a bit of googling, 375F translates to the grill temperature wanted. So I headed that way. The chicken turned out a little spicy, but not to much. It was, maybe, a bit to salty. I feel like I should've watered down the soy sauce a bit, but I can make a note of that for next time.

Pizza

So it has been a while and I seemed to forget how important it was to get as much liquid as possible out of the tomatoes (I did poke a squeeze them, as I do) plus I used buffalo mozzarella this time, which may have added to the liquid that eventually pooled and dampened the crust. I went back to the standard King Arthur Bread Flour (after uses some of the other flours in my house), which behaved as I expected. I would like to do a mix of the others or at least something, but that would probably require me to make pizza more often then is really good for me.